Mar 10, 2006

I’ve always assumed that everyone suffers a little from the “grass is always greener” syndrome. Here in these Northeastern United States, I know we do.

I grew up dreaming of tropical lands — especially when in the middle of a frozen arctic winter. Recently, we’ve picked up hobbies that embrace the snow (e.g. cross-country skiing) but it’s inevitable that you’ll go a little stir-crazy come March. Add a baby that’s supposed to have limited travels to the mix, and you’ve guaranteed yourself some cabin fever.

Then there’s a day like today. It’s approximately 67°F. That’s pretty much a rarity in early March around here. But it’s always amazing when it happens. People seem friendlier. And it’s when a day like today comes along where I wonder if I wouldn’t appreciate it if it happened more often.

We talk about the weather a lot in New England[1]. I’m constantly watching forecasts. So, I wonder what it’s like to not think about the weather? To wake up and know it’ll be roughly the same as yesterday. Is it boring?

I both love and hate the swing of the seasons.

[1] For instance, I’ve devoted this entire entry to the weather.

77 Comments

I’ve actually known New England natives who have moved to California and then moved BACK because they say it freaks them out to have weather that’s “perfect” every day. (unless you count mudslides and smog) Blame it on the Puritans. We’re so indoctrinated here to accept the suffering that comes with winter that even if it’s a nice day, people can’t quite believe that we’re not “supposed” to pay for it with some kind of weather-related nastiness somehow.

You should consider visiting Florida during the winter months. We get plenty of days like you are having from about October to April (and sometimes May).
Think of this next time a chill sweeps through New England: You could be sitting outside in 70 degree weather watching a Red Sox spring training game with plans to head to the beach later for cocktails and dinner.
Tempting, isn’t it? :)

I love reading Simple Bits, i’m constantly discovering little gems.
The sup tag!
This is something i’ve not come across before, so its either so old and unused that its not been documented or, i’ve just been short-sighted.
Or did you want to just talk about the weather? :)
Well its rained constantly for the past 3 days in Chester,UK.

That is the beauty of living in the Northeast: you get four seasons every year, and most of them more than once. Winter, spring, some more winter, mud season*, maybe another spring, then full-on humid summer.
* Mud season may only be available in Vermont.

I live in Phoenix, Having no seasons does get old, as well as making time seems as though it isnt going anywhere. When you have 4 distinct seasons you get a good sense of time passing, which I find better for goal setting.

Here in Denmark, the only thing we really can rely on is rain. Lots of it. It doesn’t come in dramatic, tropical storms, it rather comes in little, boring showers.
Dear God, why don’t I live in Florida?!

I know how you feel.
I live in upstate New York, and today was beautiful. But I know that, inevitably, sometime next week a cold front will come in and freeze the shorts off me. It’s happened twice this winter, and it never ceases to- er- cool me down.
If only there was a way to import warmth… Or export cold.

Funny. I was just writing about the weather this morning too.
I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life in California after spending the first 12 on the East Coast. In the beginning I did get tired of the incessant sunshine and welcomed the gray skies and rain on occasion. But as each year passes my mood seems increasingly susceptible to changes in the weather and perhaps even more so by the short days of Winter.
After spending the past week in Phoenix, I am amazed at how much better I feel. If I could, I would spend the entire Winter there every year.

I know exactly what you mean Dan. Though I’m from Massachusetts, I’m working my way through college out in Michigan. The seasons have just begun to swing out here and there is a noticeable difference in people’s attitudes. One of my professors even went so far as to let us go for the weekend without homework. It’s amazing what a few degrees will do.

Well, the grass isn’t any greener here (Phoenix, AZ), especially since we haven’t had rain for a good 140 days, but it is a bit warmer.
Nothing wrong with a weather post. Weather is part of our every day lives, and affects us far more than we give it credit for.

In Liverpool the only really variations we have are:
A. Cold and Really Windy
B. Cold and Windy
C. Cold and a little windy
D. Sunny + A/B/C
We rarely get any warm days as the river sweeps a nasty, biting wind across the city, also, we get very little snow, although we had a little last week, which made a pleasant, if not a little slippy change.
I wouldn’t call it boring, I’m English, so I too talk about the weather all the time, and even if we had 100 days of the same weather, we would still find something new to say about it.

Well you could always try living in Sydney. It sweltered on New Year’s Day as temperatures hit 44C (about 110F??).
In winter (July/August) the average day time temp is meant to be about 16C, but it is usually warmer, more like 19-20C (that would be about 70F I think), despite that people (the locals ;) still complain it’s “freezing”.
It’s an ok climate really, apart from those really hot days (ie 35C+), and the humidity (90%+) during the middle of summer. :)

I go to school in a small towne in Pennsylvania called Carlisle, and well, let me tell you, there’s pretty much one weather forecast around here, and that’s what my friends like to refer to as “Carlisle shit.” It’s pretty much rainy all the time, and well, it’s no fun whatsoever.

I live in Mass and I gotta say today was great. Tomorrow’s supposed to be even better. I hate New England weather… I can’t stand the cold. But, I lived in Texas for 6 months, beginning in August – and, well, while the weather was far more enjoyable there (I loved the warm nights) there was far less variety to speak of. Just heat and the constant compaints about it. Then, I moved to Vermont in the middle of winter… talk about shock to the system. I never looked at snow the same way. Of course, I still think it’s heavy and annoying but at least it’s different.

Hmmm…who is talking about fine weather???
I live in Sweden (partly in the south) and today it’s snowing, as always at this time of the year:P
But the weather could be worse, it’s only minus 12 degrees celcius, last week it was minus 42 degrees up in the north.
Thanks heaven I’ve got a PC :)

The California weather is wonderful, I’d never live anywhere else. And I don’t watch weathermen, so I’m still surprised by what each day brings. No boredom here.@Nick: Sup is a valid and useful HTML tag. It has been since at least HTML 3.2 and continues to be in XHTML.

When I was eighteen years old, I left Jersey for Boston to attend college (I’m still here, recently graduated). At the same time, my family decided this was as good a reason as any to permanently relocate to Florida.
Weather-wise, I do see the appeal of Florida. It’s sunny every single day, except during the summer, when it rains every day at exactly 2:30pm for exactly ten minutes. You can literally set your watch by it.
I live with a mild disability that affects my balance, and every time the blizzard rolls in, I wonder if Florida isn’t the better option. Still, every year I do just fine in the snow, and I think I’d lose all track of time without the change of seasons. Autumn stuns me every year.
To more directly answer your question, it’s not that the weather in Florida is boring, it’s that you’ll rapidly lose your appreciation for it. You’ll take it for granted and, like my family, become a total Weather Wuss when it gets cold enough for you to trot out Your One True Sweater (“cold enough” being about 60 degrees). Priorities are different in Florida, but that’s way beyond the scope of this comment. Suffice to say I think it has everything to do with perpetual summer.

I used to live in Ohio and having weather was great. Since then I moved to San Diego where the weather was always beautiful and I found it to be one less thing to have to worry about when you go out.
“Should we bring an umbrella? It might rain.”
“We’re in Cali.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Now, however, I’m living in Iraq where it is basically the same every day. Freezing in the morning and hot all day. It gets very old.

“So, I wonder what it’s like to not think about the weather? To wake up and know it’ll be roughly the same as yesterday. Is it boring?”
I think it gets boring after 20 years, like in my situation. In Singapore, it’s almost always (except during monsoon seasons) 28-30°C or around 85°F most days, with temperature fluctuating only 2-4°C day and night.
Oh, and we don’t get to see snow at all. *shrugs*

I am originally from New York, moved to So. Cal. when I was 12 so all memories I have of snow were fond ones. But now that I am here, I love it. We have seasons, just none of the crappy ones. Living out here means we get maybe 15 days of rain, total. With that comes freedom, freedom to leave and venture and enjoy as I please. That is hard to give up. Im an avid snowboarder but I know that snow is 1.5 hours away. Oh and guess what, the beach is 30 minutes away…at 2am. Any other time and its at least an hour. People who move out here and move back dont move back to the East because of weather, they move back because pure and simple…ITS TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE OUT HERE. That is more important than just weather.

So is 67 warm or cold to you? I ask that because here on Oahu, that would be considered one of our coldest days – man, that would be freezing to us here.
It’s weird to see the weather here. I live on Kaneohe, which is on the windward side of the island, almost exactly where a big “east” label would be. I can go into town, on the south side, and have it be almost totally sunny there. I take the Likelike back home, around ~10 miles or so. As soon as I get on the other side of the mountain – BAM! A huge downpour of rain hits me like crazy. The islands seem to have very distinct weather regions.

While talking a little treason with my mates at the traditional after-work drink at the local, it occurred to me that more than once I talked about the weather with people that are very close friends.
The assumption is that it’s the kind of thing you talk about either with a stranger or when you’ve run out of things to chat about with a friend – that it should somehow be awkward.
It shouldn’t be. Because it’s the tangents that make it worthwhile. Last night the weather evolved into a conversation about accessibility (offline – my friends aren’t web folks at all).
Today – I just learned about the sup tag :)

[YAWNS]
I just emerged from my winter hibernation — Dan you mean to say it’s not spring yet? Sure feels like it.
Maybe we will get another foot and a half of snow on April Fools Day this year. That was a fun time.
I’ll be down in Newport, RI at the St. Patrick’s Day parade rocking a polo and shorts .. just because I can.
I love this time of year because you have to keep the boots AND sandals on yellow alert at all times! Now to wrap this up with a famous movie quote …
“New England Weather is like a box of Chocolates .. [stuffing face] you never know whut ya gunna get.”
Cheers.

Prabhath:But yes, over here, we would happily give up a few sunny days for a bit of snow.
Let me tell you something about snow. It sucks.
It looks pretty in pictures and when your sliding down a mountain on a snowboard. But that’s about it.
Try shoveling snow out of a driveway at 11:00pm after working all day then waking up and cracking a layer of ice and scraping your car free while you’er late to work. Get to work cold and frozen after walking thought the streets of Boston all while mothernature is trying to shove icicles up your nose.
Yeah — I love snow.

Love and hate the season’s change or Love to hate the change in season? I live in vermont, and like you said, it was a wonderful day to wake up to. You know you appreciate the “warm” weather when you’re outside in your tee shit on a 50-60 degree day. It really does feel so much better after a hard winter. Even though this winter was exceptionally mild, it’s always a wonderful feeling.

I’ve been moving around a lot lately (Northern Japan, Palo Alto) each with its own level of weather watching needed. I’m back in the Northwest now and that whole saying here came rushing back. “If you don’t like the weather here wait an hour.” Yesterday it was sunny, rainy, a little snow, some hail, and a little bit lightning tossed in.

Oh your feelings are valid, in Connecticut days like today are priceless. But when it comes to snow, I believe I’ve had my fair share. But it wouldn’t seem natural for me to live without a few days of the white stuff. In all, the sunshine is very welcome … very welcome indeed.

#32 web
You got it!!! *LOL*
My sister lives in Tx and they seeems always have good weather. I really like snowy winters, but not if the winter stays longer than February. I belive we have to shoveling snow until June…at least!
*peaking out through the window*

Here in Greece, we get somewhat consistant weather, with 3-4 hour thunderstorms every now and again just to keep things interesting. Like today… Lightning, thunder, about 2 hours of hard rain (and I mean hard rain like the “cubby rain” from the last Matrix movie) with a half hour of pea sized hale for the final act. Then silence and clear skies. That’s the winter…
During the spring/summer you can expect 80 degree days from about mid-May to mid-October. We get a good 6 months of beach time.

Phoat, this has to be the last place to expected a Greek to be and post. So, me being a Greek as well, I do concur, today is a rather bad day, weather wise.
Yet, in my lovely isle (Crete that is), we get to have more than 6 months playing at the beach. As the matter of fact, hotels and all are already up and running (some of them).
Dan: The way I see it, there will not be much of season swinging in the coming years, so you better enjoy it while you can.

67 is very warm for this time of year. It actually makes you feel like it is in the high 70s, because your body is so used to cold weather.
Usually after the winter up here in the Northeast, you can walk outside in a t-shirt and jeans once it hits the 50s.
However when it becomes fall, 60s can result in long sleeve shirts because you are so used to hot weather.
It is kinda weird in a fun sort of way.
I definitely notice everyone in a good mood on days like yesterday.

Wow… 19°C/67°F is warm for just about any time of year in Seattle – I was born and raised here, so any time it gets above 15°C/60°F, it’s warm, to me. Last summer I visited Boston, MA in July, and it was hot and moist, but not anything like the 32°C/90°F with 95% humidity I endured nearly every day in the summer (except during the incredible typhoon that hit for several days while I was there) while living in Okazaki, Japan. Summers over there are wicked hot, and the humidity kills me.
I like it here in Seattle – it’s generally pretty temperate. Lately, though, it’s been pretty chilly – it’s currently 1°C/33°F. Brrr. I do wish it would snow here a little more often, though. I always feel a little envious when I see thick blankets of snow on the ground in pictures. I don’t think I can remember a “White Christmas” here in Seattle.
Well, I guess that’s the Weather Report for this morning ;) Cheers!

I’m pretty excited about how mild this Winter has been. After two or three extremely cold Vermont winters, this one has been a relief. I’m hoping the snow we got last week or so was winter’s last hurrah, but we both know better. :-)
The weather this weekend has been great though. I’ve been wondering if spending winters somewhere warm would make me lose my tough northeastern skin. When people move down south, it seems to only take a year before normal temperatures become “friggin’ freezing.” I wouldn’t want to be one of those folks that can’t appreciate 50 degree weather in March.

I think that the crappy winter weather makes the rest of the year so much more enjoyable. Except for the middle of Summer. Living in New York City, the middle of the winter is all about ice, snow, and cold biting winds. Middle of summer is filled with sweltering, humid, many 90+ days. Spring and Autumn are the most enjoyable, actually.
Chris above is right, though. Right now it’s 50°F, bit of wind, overcast, sporatic rain. Yet I was out in jeans and a t-shirt because compared to the winter, it’s warm. Come fall, though, I’ll have a long sleeve shirt and jacket on at 50°F. Crazy.

I grew up in Michigan and vowed to leave the schizophrenic weather forever. I HATED snow so I moved to the moderate DC. It still had all four seasons and it seemingly was a great place to live. Until I got to the first summer there – sticky, humid and HOT! You can’t go outside to grab the morning paper without breaking a sweat. Granted, the winters were extremely mild , and the fall is great, but the summers were absolutely terrible.
It was only about a month ago I moved for various reasons… one being the weather. I can deal with cold weather (layers people!) but an extreme, gross swampy summer… no thanks! I actually missed snow and all the little things – ie cuddling up by a fire, making hot chocolate and/or a hot cup of tea, watching snow fall – that the winter brings.
I have you agree with you, Dan, that people are more friendly when they get that first peek of warm weather. It was beautiful here in Chicago yesterday and everyone was outside taking advantage. It’s a comradery where everyone is saying “YES! We both survived this winter. Here, let me help you cross the street.” It’s great! I never got that in DC. It makes me like winter even more. Especially here where it’ll get freezing again and we’ll have 3-4 more of days like that!

#48 Addam
quote:”I have you agree with you, Dan, that people are more friendly when they get that first peek of warm weather.”
Hmmm…this quote makes me feel to say that the Swedes always are in a bad mood. Just joking ;)
But I agree – after a loooong dark and cold winter the sun is always welcomed back. It’s remarkable how people, sort of, wakes up. To see the first little knob on the tree grow and to feel the soft spiriting of a gentle “spring sun” is wonderful. Long live the returned light!
*gah* bare with me and the english grammar…please…

The weather is supposed to be beautiful again today. High – 81 here in Baltimore, MD today. Unfortunately I’m stuck in a grey cubicle. I made the best of it though and exercised my right to wear shorts to work. I really love the relaxed work enviroment!

Here in Brisbane, Australia it is either hot 30ºC or in winter the days are maybe as low as 15ºC – that’s perhaps 50F (sorry not sure).
Really it is great except for December when it is very hot and muggy but can’t complain. We start getting grumpy if it is raining or cloudy for any more than two days. :)
No, it doesn’t get boring – you just expect it will be fine and sunny.

In Florida, we have hurricane season. In California, they have wildfire season. Yes, winter sux, but we who live in paradise have to think about weather too. Here in Miami, the six scariest words are: hurricane season is three months away.

In Ottawa (capital of Canada) we face predictable weather all year long. Predictable in the sense that we know one winter day it will be 20 degrees below zero (that’s celsius, folks) and the next day it will be hovering close to zero. Predictable in the sense that the weather is always changing. It’s not boring. It’s ridiculous.

You should try out Portugal, hurray to the the mediterranean climate.
For practicing cross-country skiing you could have some problems, because snow is a little bit rare.
Although you could try what the portuguese olympic athlete does, and pratice on the sand !!
( No he didn’t finished last, but almost )

We generally have very consistent weather here at the Gold Coast; as the slogan goes – “Beautiful one day, perfect the next”.
To be honest, I don’t mind that it is consistent. The one thing I do wish, is that it was consistently cooler – say about 18-20c instead of up around the 27-30c.
Ohh and a whole lot more rain!
Al.

I haven’t read all the other replies, but I grew up in Indiana with the seasons changing and always wanted to live somewhere “tropical”. I moved to central Florida when I was 18 and after a few months wanted it to get cold so bad. It actually threw me in a deep depression without the seasons changing. I eventually moved back to Indiana and now I miss Florida ;-) Damn weather!

Hmmm…just take a look the Swedish weather today.
Finally – it seems to be too good to be true. Spring is knocking at our backdoor. On the other hand, the swedish weather are also predictable. Sun and dry today – cold and snowy tomorrow – until late May…
It s***s

I can totally relate to this. I’ve lived in Virginia Beach, VA, Norway, and currently Connecticut. In VA, it was 90F – 120F with 100% humidity for a good chunk of the year, with it never dropping below 20F in the winter/fall. If it managed to snow (usually less than 1in), they’d cancel EVERYTHING and everyone would scamper around buying water/food supplies and chains for their tires… it was quite funny.
In Norway, it snowed… ALOT.
As far as New England is concerned, its probably the best place to experience all 4 seasons in the US. You get the nice springs (unless it decides to be an ass and just stay cold), the tolerable summers, crisp falls (with the best leaf changes in the world), and cold, snowy winters.
I suppose everyone should come out here at least once in their life, if only to experience the variety in weather.

Woah, different. I like it, mostly. The softened color palette is nice. The greens compliment the blue nicely. I kind-of miss the black, though. I think just a tiny bit would be a nice accent to the more muted tones of the new palette. The gradient in the section header just seems out of place to me, though, since it doesn’t really appear anywhere else, and the flat colors are one of the things i like a lot about the site. My initial reaction to the footer was that it was almost too Powazek, but I’ve gotten over it. I think it was just that the pattern at the edges is so similar in visual weight to the border pattern on his footer; sort of a super-pixelated version of his flourish. Anyway, very nice. Has the background always been that super-subtle tile pattern? My monitor is kind of screwy, so maybe I just never noticed it before, but I really like it.
On the weather front, Chicago was beautiful over the weekend – the first real hint that winter might actually end. And today – snow. Ugh.

every place has a plus & minus.
new orleans= early springs & hardly a winter but horrible oppressive heat in summer. 3-T-shirt changes not unheard of.
Philadelphia= 4 seasons. Worst is the late March spring fever when you have snowbaorded & had snow fun but are DYING for warm air.
Best to live like the birds and travel to the fave climes..:-)

> We talk about the weather a lot in New England
As do we in ‘old’ England (as you can tell from many of the comments). But that’s because there’s a lot of weather to talk about. It keeps you on your toes – cold and rainy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, windy in the evening etc etc.

I’ve been living in Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth area) for 18 years and every summer I complain about the heat. My wife is really tired of me asking, “why are we living here?” 95 to 100+ degrees F every day. If only the evenings were cooler but they aren’t. Sometimes it’s still 95 degrees at 10:00 PM! But I have to admit that winters are not so bad; very mild. If we do get really cold (in the teens), it only lasts for a day or two and then it’s back to mild. I’m from northern Oklahoma and grew up playing in snow. I miss that living here in Texas.

I suppose our* weather here in Toronto is similar to New England’s. We talk about it all the time here.
I suppose the weather in Singapore is unchanging, everyday, all year.
I was about to comment on the weather to a co-worker from Singapore. She was taking a break and gazing through the window at the winter weather.
But I stopped myself and asked instead, “Do people talk much about the weather in Singapore?”
I was a little surprised how long it took her to stop laughing and recover enough to be able to say, “No. Never.”
*Yes — we own the weather here.

By far the easiest job here in Cyprus is the weather man/woman. It goes something like this: “today was sunny, clear skies and tomorrow will be sunny with clear skies”. Seriously though, people here just don’t bother checking the weather, because it’s the same almost every day of the year – something like 330 sunny days. The rest is what little rain we get during the year. With summer averages of 35C (95F) and a short winter average of 20C (68F), why bother checking it? Having lived in the States as well for many years in all sorts of climates, from windy, chilly and humid Nebraska to sunny California, you are right about people being more relaxed and friendly in sunny places. I wouldn’t trade it for anything again. The afternoon siesta helps too! ;o)

My family and I just returned from Phoenix. It was in the mid 90′s all week. We loved it. I did my morning jog and the kids went swimming. The water was too cold for the locals, my kids were the only ones swimming. I was also the only jogger on the streets more or less. It is strange that no one was enjoying the outdoors. We spend as much time as possible outside in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the late spring, summer, and early fall. I hate winter but when it’s above 60 degree we try to get outside and enjoy the weather. We do lots camping and make the bust of Pittsburgh’s weather. We have thoughts of moving to Phoenix but if you can’t get outside and enjoy the weather then what is the point.

Hello, ick comes from Austria, today has I again time around English sprachige Blogs to read. I will form over your topic an opinion and you by post office will write.
I wish you kind regards from Austria in the Wachau
Manuel

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